Being a celebrity is rather commonplace, especially in this day and age, but being a legend is a whole other thing. We may sometimes think that we are past the time of creative invention, but there are still innovators and pioneers alive today - and, according to Demián Bichir, Ridley Scott is one of them.

With 'Alien: Covenant', the sixth installment of his 'Alien' franchise, coming this week almost forty years after the first movie, Ridley Scott is still considered a titan of the film industry. Mexican actor Demián Bichir, who plays the Covenant's security head Sergeant Lope, talks about what it was like to see a master at work.

Written by John Logan, Dante Harper, Jack Paglen and Michael Green, 'Alien: Covenant' is the latest instalment in the 'Alien' franchise from director Ridley Scott. Starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender in leading roles alongside the likes of Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and James Franco, the film follows the journey of the crew of the colony ship Covenant. Bound for an unexplored planet that they believe is a paradise just waiting to be discovered, they soon come to realise that it's a dangerous world that was better off left alone.

Ridley Scott makes his return to the 'Alien' franchise

So will the crew be able to escape unscathed? We seriously doubt it when looking at Ridley Scott's history of 'Alien' films, but it's certainly a nice thought. Whatever the case may be, the storyline and plot must be a compelling one if this working formula is to engage an audience all over again.

The ‘Blade Runner’ director says he’s turned down chances to direct superhero movies in the past.

Don’t expect Ridley Scott to jump on the superhero bandwagon anytime soon. The Blade Runner director has said he wants to "keep making smart films” and described superhero blockbusters as having “no story”.

Ridley Scott thinks superhero movies have “no story”

"Superhero movies are not my kind of thing - that's why I've never really done one," he told Digital Spy. "[I've been asked] several times, but I can't believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero.

Robin Wright has reportedly joined the cast of the long-awaited Blade Runner sequel, which is due to begin filming in July. Wright stars as Claire Underwood in the Netflix series ‘House of Cards’ and the actress is currently filming Wonder Woman, in which she plays the titular character’s aunt General Antiope.

Robin Wright has reportedly landed a role in the Blade Runner sequel.

The news was first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, who wrote that Wright was in ‘final negotiations’ to star in the film, There are said to be three major female roles, and Wright has taken one of them.

The long-awaited sequel will arrive in January 2018, a full 36 years after the original.

The long-awaited sequel to Blade Runner has at last got an official release, of January 12th 2018, according to its production company Alcon Entertainment.

The follow-up to the cult classic, released in 1982, is currently untitled but is believed to start shooting in July this year. Ryan Gosling has recently been confirmed as joining Harrison Ford, the star of the original, but it’s not thought that any of Ford’s co-stars from the first movie (Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah) will be appearing in the sequel.

Harrison Ford will be in the 'Blade Runner' sequel, which now has a Jan 12, 2018 release date

The first set of nominees for the 68th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards have now been announced, with nods for the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2015 featuring five directors from some of the biggest film favourites of the year.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of 'The Revenant'

Predictably, Alejandro G. Iñárritu is up there for 'The Revenant'; a visceral biopic which won three awards at the Golden Globes this year (Best Drama, Director and Actor in a Drama with Leonardo DiCaprio). He was previously nominated for 2006's 'Babel', won the award for his 2014 movie 'Birdman', and also won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for Procter & Gamble's 'Best Job' campaign in 2012. Ridley Scott is another DGA staple who's once again looking at this award for 'The Martian' starring Matt Damon; another Golden Globes favourite with two awards under its belt. He has yet to win at the DGA's, but this is his fourth time nominated following 1990's 'Thelma and Louise', 1999's Gladiator and 2000's 'Black Hawk Down'.

With the announcement of the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards, also known as the Baftas, the awards season enters its more serious phase.

This is the point where the industry weighs in on the conversation that has been limited mainly to critics so far. Unsurprisingly, Carol and The Revenant feature heavily in the BAFTA race. But unlike the awards season to date, genre films like Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian were virtually locked out of the major categories. (The Martian managed nods for actor Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott.)

Also unexpected for Bafta was the absence of local favourites like Tom Hardy, Charlotte Rampling and Carey Mulligan, and not even one craft nomination for Spectre. Bafta voters also failed to nominate two other current favourites: Creed and Joy.

Branagh will not only be directing the project, but will also be starring as the famous Belgian detective in Fox's new adaptation.

Sir Kenneth Branagh is to play fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in a film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express for Fox Studios that he will also be directing, according to reports.

The 54 year old English actor, whose directing credits include Thor, Henry V and 2015’s box-office success Cinderella, is reported by Variety to have signed up for the Fox re-make that has been in the pipelines since 2013. Ridley Scott, fresh from his success with The Martian, is also attached to the project as a co-producer.

Sir Kenneth Branagh will be directing and starring in the new adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic novel

Amazon could have a mega-hit on its hands with 'The Man in the High Castle'.

Amazon releases its first wave of pilots for 2015 today (January 15) with an interesting slate of shows from an interesting group of filmmakers including Ridley Scott. The pilots are being delivered en masse via Amazon's Instant Video service, essentially giving the Golden Globe-winning streaming service a chance to test the water with users.

Ridley Scott has produced The Man in the High Castle pilot

One of the pilots is being described as must-see viewing: The Man in the High Castle. Produced by blockbuster director Scott, the show is based on the alternate history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, which won the Hugo Award in 1963. The book focuses on daily life under totalitarian Fascist imperialism occurring in 1962, fifteen years after the end of a longer World War II, lasting from 1939 to 1947. The victorious countries are Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The show will essentially focus on what America would look like had the Allies lost the war.

It's always good for actors and directors to get along on the set of a film; it keeps everyone involved in a good state of mind, and can lead to a better finished product than if everyone is at each other's throats. But simply getting along is one thing, and being in absolute awe of the people you are working with. Recently, actor Joel Edgerton, who played Ramses in the recently release 'Exodus: Gods and Men', revealed how much he idolised director Ridley Scott on the set of the film.

Joel Edgerton as Rameses in 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'

"Just meeting Ridley [Scott] at all was impressive for me. I've just admired his work for so many years - so many of his movies. So I was very chuffed just to meet him." The two must have gotten on quite well, as Edgerton revealed that the two spent the day working together, before Scott had dinner with him later. "I had a dinner with him the first night we met, and it was funny, because we spent the day playing dress-ups - literally - and then the evening, having a dinner and hearing his stories, y'know, I felt very honoured to get a chance to work with him."

'Exodus: Gods and Kings' didn't take as much as 20th Century Fox probably predicted - but still, it topped the box-office.

Ridley Scott's biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings overcame concerns and criticism over its casting process to topple The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 at the North American box-office. The movie clocked up $24.5 million from 3,503 screens though generally it fell short of expectations and is still miles from its $140 million price-tag.

Still, 20th Century Fox are still confident that Exodus will perform well overseas and begin turning a profit. According to Variety, Gods and Kings played particularly well to Hispanic and African-American moviegoers - ironic given its near all-white cast.

'Exodus: Gods and Kings' director Ridley Scott and star Christian Bale talk about the significance of Moses and the thoughts behind the new crafting of the Biblical story in an interview for the movie, which tells the story of this religious figure's rise to power and his heroic achievements along the way.

Instead the 76 year old filmmaker will serve as a producer on the long awaited sequel.

Ridley Scott has confirmed he will no longer direct the sequel to Blade Runner, instead opting to serve as a producer. The veteran British director revealed the news during an interview with Variety to promote his latest movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Scott also stated that Harrison Ford will still be appearing in the sequel (reprising his role as Rick Deckard) but that the character will not appear until the film’s third act. “Harrison is very much part of this one, but really it’s about finding him; he comes in in the third act,” he told Variety. “It makes sense in terms of how it relates to the first one.”

Veteran Japanese film star Ken Takakura has died at the age of 83, it has been announced. The actor passed away on November 10th at a Tokyo hospital after suffering from lymphoma. A private funeral has already taken place in Japan.

Will Smith is in talks to play Dr. Bennett Omalu in Ridley Scott's upcoming NFL drama. Will this be the role that lands Smith his first Oscar?

Will Smith is in talks to star in Ridley Scott’s upcoming NFL drama, currently untitled. Will he be doing a Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson style coach role or starring as a player/retired player? Neither actually.

Will Smith is thought to be in talks to play Dr. Omalu, a researcher who discovered CTE in the brain of a dead football player

Smith has opted more for the action/drama end of things over the years, rather than taking the sports route. Staying true to the sort of characters he has played in the past, the Pursuit of Happiness actor won’t be taking on the role of a sportsman, instead he’ll be playing forensic neuropathologist Dr. Bennett Omalu, the first researcher to discover Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of a football player.

The producers at Alcon Entertainment have publically announced their intention to cast Harrison Ford in the lead role for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner sequel. Along with the original director, the film is being written by Hampton Fancher, who helped adapt Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for the classic 1982 movie.

Harrison Ford Promoting 'Enders Game' in Russia

"We believe that Hampton Fancher and Michael Green have crafted with Ridley Scott an extraordinary sequel to one of the greatest films of all time. We would be honored, and we are hopeful, that Harrison will be part of our project," read the statement from Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, co-founders and CEOs of Alcon.

Michael Fassbender has confirmed a sequel to Ridley Scott's Prometheus is in the works and that he will reprise his role in the movie. The Oscar nominated actor, 37, revealed the news during an interview for X-Men: Days of Future Past with co-star James McAvoy.

Michael Fassbender Stars In 'Frank'

When quizzed if he would be keen to return for a Prometheus 2, Fassbender gave a very confident "ye" but admitted he did not know when it would happen. Some reports have suggested that the movie will hit in March 2016.

Michael Fassbender is currently riding a wave of critical acclaim for his masked performance in Lenny Abrahamson’s ‘Frank’, but the German/Irish star has recently attracted attention to a sequel to ‘Prometheus’, Ridley Scott’s polarizing sci-fi epic.

Michael Fassbender at the Irish premier for 'Frank'

When asked by film site Collider if he was looking forward to working with Scott again, Michael said: “For sure. I love Ridley. He’s a master filmmaker.” Then, his X-Men: Days of Future Past co-star James McAvoy jumped in and asked if a sequel was really happening, to which Michael replied “Yeah, but when I don’t know.”

Prometheus 2 will hit cinemas in March 2016 though may take on a different movie title, according to The Wrap. An insider confirmed that production is scheduled to start this fall, once Ridley Scott has delivered his Moses movie Exodus, to Fox.

The sci-fi sequel will be re-written by veteran movie scribe Michael Green, who worked with Scott on Blade Runner and recently penned the derided Green Lantern movie. Jack Paglen (Transcendence) had written the original draft of the screenplay.

Film headlines have been awash this week with news of Quentin Tarantino’s seemingly canned project, Hateful Eight, due to a script leak. The mercurial director has been candid in his plans to scrap the movie, even naming names in the process.

At least let us explain ourselves. The world has turned against The Counsellor lately; negative reviews have flown in to the tune of a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and people are ready to write off Ridley Scott’s directorial career. But at the risk of sounding contrary, there are a few reasons you should go and see The Counsellor tonight when it hits U.K cinemas. And here they are:

Ridley Scott's new thriller comes out tomorrow (Nov 15) in the UK - but should you bother?

Ridley Scott’s The Counsellor is a perfect example of how Oscar season can distort a film’s presence. Many, including us, touted Ridley Scott’s latest effort as a world-beater; Cormac McCarthy writing the screenplay, the stellar cast, a couple of brilliant trailers – everything was in place for an Academy performance.

Suddenly, though, reviews started flying in, and what looked like a taut thriller, with an intricate plot, turned out to be a cumbersome attempt at style. It’s disappointing, but it serves us right for jumping the gun and judging a film by Fassbender’s face in a short trailer.

Ridley Scott has confirmed 'Prometheus 2,' but it's not the only project he's got on the cards.

Ridley Scott has confirmed that the sequel to his sci-fi epic Prometheus is written and could be released in 2014 or 2015. Scott is currently on the promotional trail for The Counselor - his drug-drama starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem - though he's already looking to the future.

The gross-out comedy shot to number one in the US box office with over $30 million

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is this weeks number one movie at the box office, ousting the mega-successful Gravity from the top spot after a three week stay. The Johnny Knoxville-starring prank fest more than doubled its estimated cost of $15 million in the first weekend alone, amassing an impressive estimate of $32 million since it was released last week.

Bad Grandpa has topped the US box office at the first attempt

Exceeding expectations by scoring more than $30 mil. at the box office, Bad Grandpa comfortably came in first place, averaging just short of $10,000 at each cinema it opened at across America. The fourth feature length outing from the Jackass team is now the second most successful of the bunch, just about tying with the first movie and coming some way off the estimated $50 mil. made by Jackass 3-D. Box office estimates indicate that the film should end its domestic run with about $75 million.

After three weeks at the top, 'Gravity' may have finally been ousted from the top spot of the US box office by the latest 'Jackass' outing

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is predicted to earn close to $30 million at the box office in it's opening weekend, according to Deadline, making it the most likely candidate to finish at the top of the box office come the end of the week. This means that after three weeks of dominating the US box office, Gravity may finally be replaced as America's favourite movie at cinemas.

Bad Grandpa should be an easy weekend winner

Depending on what side of the $30 mil. mark it lands on, the film can become either the third or fourth most successful R-rated film of the year in terms of opening box office revenue. Should the film exceed expectations even further, it could potentially place even higher. The film already made an estimated $11 - 12 mil. on the opening day of the weekend - Friday, 25 October - and could be well on its way to exceeding the $30 mil. mark should the numbers continue to add up. Not bad for a film that only cost $15 million to make.

'The Counselor' hits theartes to a disappointing reception as Ridley Scott and an ensemble cast deliver a flop.

'The Counselor', based on the original film screenplay by Cormac McCartney, had the great pleasure of England's Ridley Scott at its helm to direct the thriller to the big screen. A film that is guaranteed to visually pleasure cinemagoers and frequently contain violence, as is expected with Scott's recognisable style, boosts an immensely talented cast of A-list actors.

Michael Fassbender leads the pack which also features Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, and Javier Bardem. They depict a tale of greed, life and death as an unnamed counselor (Fassbender) makes the life changing decision to partner with a drug dealing criminal he has been defending for years.

Buoyed by a cast including Javier Bardem, Cormac McCarthy is probably wondering what went wrong with 'The Counselor'

If we cast back our minds some six months, The Counselor was tipped for Oscar glory. The bookmakers are prone to making false judgement calls when it comes to awards' season. Last year, the pairing of Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman under the stewardship of Paul Thomas Anderson was deemed faultless and, as such, The Master was tipped as a sure fire Oscar winner following its festival screenings that summer.

Boasting a cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Cameron Diaz, and direction from Ridley Scott, the film looked as though it could be one of this seasons best. Sadly this doesn't seem to be the case

The Counselor is the latest film from No Country for Old Men writer Cormac McCarthy, making his screenwriting debut alongside director Ridley Scott, with a film that explores the complexities of hustling, and the fact that no matter how big a shark you think you are, there's always a bigger one swimming nearby.

The premise and the names attached tot he film all looked as though they fit into place, and The Counselor seemed to be the latest hot Oscar contender, however, upon closer inspection it looks as though the pieces were too big after all, and the film looks unlikely to stand up to expectation.

Perhaps preserving the legacy would be better than stretching out the franchise.

Harrison Ford is like a semi-retired bank robber. And you know what the movie business does with semi-retired bank robbers? It lures them back into big jobs again, and more often then not, they get found out.

Hey, it's Harrison Ford!

Ford scored big with Blade Runner back in 80s; the film was another fantastic addition to a memorable set of characters portrayed by the screen legend, but it also gained cult status, placing him firmly in the hearts of both mainstream and indie sci-fi aficionados.

The actor has apparently spoken with director Ridley Scott about the potential of bringing his sci-fi vision back to the big screen.

Harrison Ford is likely to make his return to the sci-fi genre when Han Solo returns in the upcoming, JJ Abrams-directed sequels to the original Star Wars trilogy.

In a recent interview with IGN.com, the Indianna Jones star also revealed that he could potentially return to another lauded sci-fi universe in the near future; that of the replicant-inhabited Earth from Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner.

"I truly admire Ridley as a man and as a director," he told the website. "I would be very happy to engage again with him in the further telling of this story." There have been rumors floating around the internet for two years now that suggest Scott is working on a follow-up to his sci-fi noir.

Few films have generated as much buzz as Ridley Scott’s The Counselor. Despite having a few ‘off’ films, shall we say, the impressive cast and Cormac McCarthy’s name on the writing credit mean this taut looking thriller has been turning heads everywhere it goes.

Fassbender and Bardem enjoy each other's company at the special screening

And that’s what last night was all about: turning heads. At a special screening of the movie, held in the London’s West End, at the Odeon. The stars of the film – and it’s a veritable galaxy of names – were dressed up and ready to mingle as the U.K press pack got their chance to mull over Scott’s follow up to Prometheus.

We take a look at the front-runners and underdogs for next year's Oscars ceremony.

Six months of anticipation for four hours of award giving: that’s what you signed up for. The Oscars 2014 has its host, and now it has its favorites. Which director will be hurtling through an acceptance speech at breakneck speed, and which actor will be practising their sad-yet-humble loser face?

The 'Prometheus' actress will team up with her favourite director once again.

Sigourney Weaver is set to star in another Ridley Scott-directed movie, 34 years after she made her name in his 1979 sci-fi classic, Alien. The 63 year-old will appear in Scott's upcoming biblical epic Exodus in which she will play Tuya, mother of Ramses, reports THR.

Sigourney Weaver Will Play The Mother Of Pharoah Ramses.

Weaver has just finished a stint on Broadway in the Tony-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and she has also signed up to the Mortal Instruments sequel, City of Ashes.

The star of the Alien quad-rilogy has signed on to star in the British director's upcoming biblical epic

Sigourney Weaver is re-teaming with the man who gave her her big break; Ridley Scott, to co-star in the director's upcoming Bible epic Exodus. The 20th Century Fox production will see Weaver star as Tuya, mother of Ramses (played by Joel Edgerton), in the movie, with John Turturro already signed on to appear as her husband.

Weaver will star as Tuya in one of 2014's two biblical movies

Weaver re-unites with Scott for the first time since the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, in a film that is already looking like a star-studded affair, even though casting hasn't yet finished.

It’s all very sleek; shiny cars, handsome people, phone conversations that don’t end with a goodbye. That’s the world Michael Fassbender lives in, probably in real life, but most prominently, in The Counselor, Ridley Scott’s taut looking new thriller, which has a sexy new trailer.

Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt in The Counselor

This is Cormac McCarthy’s screenwriting debut, and it’s a highly anticipated debut considering the success of his novels, and the subsequent translation of The Road from page to screen. Scott provides the visual pedigree, having helmed such cinematic behemoths as Gladiator and Prometheus.

Sir Ridley Scott's new film could be one of the early frontrunners for Oscar glory when it arrives in cinemas October 25th

The Counsellor is a clever new thriller from the creative mind of Sir Ridley Scott and screenwriter Cormac McCarthy, in which a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) decides to try and make a little extra money on the side by selling cocaine. Over the course of the film, he learns that there is no such thing as easy money, especially not in the drug trade, as he begins to meet and mix with some unsavoury character (even worse than lawyers, we're led to believe) and has to work out who his real friends are in this new, powdery life, that's if he even has any in the first place.

Despite a bunch of cold characters and a deeply contrived plot, this film is so infused with hot topicality that we are held in its grip all the way through. The issue is corporate irresponsibility and grass-roots activism, both of which feel ripped straight from the headlines to give the movie an edgy, almost documentary urgency. On the other hand, it's nearly impossible to get involved in the story's inter-personal dramas.

Director Batmanglij is reteaming with Sound of My Voice actress-cowriter Marling, who this time plays Jane, a corporate-security spy assigned by her shark-like boss (Clarkson) to infiltrate the eco-terrorism group The East. The goal is to prevent them from attacking any of her clients. It takes Jane awhile to worm her way into the anarchists' inner sanctum, where she immediately finds an affinity with leader Benji (Skarsgard), medically trained Doc (Kebbell) and flamboyant Luca (Fernandez). It takes longer to warm to the prickly Izzy (Page), but eventually Jane finds herself part of the core team, invited to participate in a series of jams in which The East gives company bosses a taste of their own toxic medicine.

In the cast of a pharmaceutical giant, this is quite literally the case: they infect the executive (Ormond) with the dangerous drug she's selling to the developing world. And the gang also stages assaults on oil companies in ways that are eerily easy for us to identify with, because the activists are making an important point. Indeed, we never really doubt where the filmmakers' sympathies lie: even if their actions are illegal and rather nasty, these "terrorists" are the good guys. At least this moral complexity gives the film a brainy kick.

'The Counsellor' tells the story of a naive lawyer who holds the belief that dabbling in drug-trafficking is the best way to earn a little extra cash. However, that dabbling evolves into full-blown dealing which consumes his life and infects with all the corruption, betrayal and pain he thought he could avoid. Now with some seriously ruthless criminals on his tail, he begins to realise that there is nothing that these people will not do to get what they want and the odds on his life begin to get higher and higher. Unless he can work out who his friends are, he has no hope of returning to his normal life, but in a world where disloyalty affects everyone's relationships, he begins to wonder if he really has anyone there for him at all.

Directed by the triple Oscar nominated Sir Ridley Scott ('Prometheus', 'Gladiator', 'Alien'), this high-energy, gritty thriller is all about corruption and how smalls mistakes can lead to major consequences. The screenplay has been written by novellist Cormac McCarthy ('No Country for Old Men', 'All the Pretty Horses') and it features an exciting, star-studded cast ensemble. It is set to reach UK cinemas everywhere on November 15th 2013.

There may be added logic to the late-2013 release date however: to give itself the best chances for 2014 Oscars consideration. The Counselor stars Michael Fassbender (Shame, Prometheus) who plays a lawyer who gets involved in cocaine trafficking and ends up in over his head with the wrong people. According to First Showing, Fassbender teams up in business with a rich acquaintance, played by Bardem, as Pitt's shady criminal character comes out of the shadows as things take a turn for the worst.In an incredible cast, Fassbender's co-stars include Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.Despite their cinematic fame and success, neither Scott nor Pitt have ever won an Oscar before, with Pitt apparently resigning himself to never winning, having said: "I don't play the Oscars game." November release dates tend to be awards friendly, due to being late enough to not be forgotten amongst the year's other cinematic releases but not too late as to have not made enough of an impression.

Due for release on 15th November, the film tells the tale of a lawyer, played by Michael Fassbender, who gets involved in cocaine trafficking and ends up in over his head with the wrong people. According to First Showing, Fassbender teams up in business with a rich acquaintance, played by Bardem, which also introduces Pitt's shady character as things take a turn for the worst.

The Counselor's screenplay was written by Cormac McCarthy, who also wrote No Country For Old Men - another film that starred Bardem as a baddie. Ridley Scott, who is known for such epics as Kingdom of Heaven and Aliens will direct the movie that has been filmed in locations in the UK, US and Spain.

You could argue that this film is all lurid style over substance, but there's actually a lot going on behind the stunningly gorgeous imagery. Korean director Park (Oldboy) beings his lavish visual approach to this Hitchcockian story about a family infiltrated by a predator. Packed with references to iconic movies and books, the film is heightened and deranged, and its intense moodiness gets under the skin.

It centres on 18-year-old India Stoker (Wasikowska), distraught after the death of her beloved father (Mulroney). Without him to soften her, she's also even angrier than usual at her needy mother Evie (Kidman). Then the charming, handsome Uncle Charlie (Goode) turns up at the funeral and moves in to help them grieve. Actually he seems to be trying to seduce Evie, who is flattered by his attention. But the housekeeper (Somerville) and an auntie (Weaver) don't stick around long enough to see what's really going on, and it becomes clear that Charlie actually has his sights set on India.

Both the script and the direction continually echo familiar literary and cinematic icons, from the family's name to the Shakespearean family plot to the prowling interloper (see Robert Mitchum in the 1950s classic The Night of the Hunter). Director Park's camera prowls through the house like a ghost, catching tiny details in every lushly designed scene while finding all kinds of shadings in the performances. Wasikowska is terrific as the sensitive, rather cruel young woman at the centre of the storm, while Kidman steals her scenes with a haunted, conflicted performance. Between them, Goode is almost painfully seductive. And clearly dangerous.

The Killing Lincoln reviews are in, and it’s time to find out if the TV movie, which tells the story of John Wilkes Booth and the conspiracy that led to the 16th president's murder, adds anything to a story well told.

Given Steven Spielberg’s Oscar nominated Lincon, featuring Daniel Day Lewis as the man himself has done so well, there was perhaps no better time than now to portray Wilkes Booth’s story, but if the reviews are anything to go by, it hasn’t been done particularly well. “Fastidiously researched down to the arrangement of household items in certain scenes, "Killing Lincoln" wears its historical accuracy like a ball and chain, clunking where it should inspire, dragging where it should pulse with dread,” read The L.A Times’ review. “It grows quickly tedious, which is, in itself, an achievement considering the subject matter.” Produced by Ridley and the late Tony Scott, Killing Lincoln is based on bestselling book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard and is narrated by Tom Hanks.

Slant Magazine’s Chuck Bown unflinchingly states, “Ultimately, Saving Lincoln is a bad film that's somewhat exciting for suggesting, however fleetingly, what a true visionary might do with this expressionistic lo-fi form of world-building.” And Kansas City Entertainment suggest that the the project could have been handled better, especially considering the recent focus. “During a surge in all things Lincoln, thanks to Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis, National Geographic could have taken the time to do the job right.”

National Geographic aren't dipping their toes into the scripted drama, rather plunging themselves in with 'Killing Lincoln', an adaptation of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's bestselling book of the same.

Tony Scott was working on adapting the book when he committed suicide on August 19th, 2012. Production had already begun in Richmond, Virginia, and Ridley Scott also exec produces. "This is really the Lincoln story you've never seen before. Booth wanted to make his mark," Scott said in a statement. Actor Billy Campbell, who co-stars with Jesse Johnson, called the documentary, "amazingly detailed, accurate, exciting and immensely tragic."

The trailer - considering there are no real spoilers in this story - doesn't reveal much, other impeccably stylised depiction of the murder, with a Tarantino-esque cut away from the scenes crescendo. "Lincoln is so adored, so universally revered today that it's easy to forget he was a controversial president -- one with many enemies -- in fact he repeatedly dreamt of his own assassination," said Billy Campbell, who plays America's 16th president. "We felt it important to convey this hidden side of Lincoln, this sense of his almost wasting away with premonitions of death, even as he was outwardly so poised and steadfast through the closing of the war."

Ridley Scott and Daniel Espinosa are on board, but even the weight of their names hasn’t been enough to stop Christian Bale from bailing on Lionsgate studios new project Child 44, according to The Wrap.

The developers behind the project were keen to get the Batman actor on board, and had hoped that he’d say yes upon meeting them on Tuesday (November 13). However they were left disappointed when the star turned the Richard Price-written script down, leaving them with a dilemma as to where to go next. The film is based on the book of the same name by British novelist Tom Rob Smith. The plot focuses on central character Leo Demidov, who is a disgraced lawyer in the Stalin-era Soviet Union assigned to investigate the murders. A gritty tale, the book is based on the true story of the Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was executed for 52 murders and is the first in a trilogy of tomes exploring the impact of Stalin on the Soviet Union.

Lionsgate don’t have to panic just yet; in Scott and Espinosa they have names easily talented enough to make the film a success, but with Bale out of the frame it does leave the door wide open for someone else. They’ll have to be careful they make the right choice.

Well, this is an odd one. Brad Pitt has his fingers in plenty of pies - that’s for certain - though we didn’t know he was into furniture design.

The Hollywood icon has teamed up with Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Pierre Chareau and Paul Dupre-Lafon to design a range of furniture for Frank Pollaro’s New Jersey company, known for its accurate reproductions of Art Deco furnishings.

The new range includes around a dozen pieces, featuring tables, chairs and one “rather fantastic bed,” according to the Architectural Digest. The unveiling of the work will take place in New York between November 13-15, though Pitt has already been discussing the works. “I’ve been doodling ideas for buildings and furniture since the early 1990s, when I first discovered [Charles Rennie] Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright…Actually, I found Wright in college, when looking for a lazy two-point credit to get out of French. It forever changed my life.” Pitt began with the bed, an Art Deco piece with “lustrous tropical-hardwood frame that extends from its gently curved headboard.”

Tony Scott’s autopsy has been made public. Although the cause of death has been confirmed as suicide, the coroner’s report provides few other insights into why the film director chose to take his own life.

Scott - whose brother is fellow movie director Ridley Scott - died on August 19, 2012 when he jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles harbour. The cause of death was listed as “multiple blunt force injuries,” according to a report from the Daily Mail and added the he also drowned by jumping into the harbour. It was widely assumed that Scott had intended to commit suicide; he left several notes, including a list of contact numbers in his car so that the police would be able to contact his wife. However, what was not clear was why he chose to take his life. The notes gave no indication as to a reasoning.

Rumors that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer proved to be untrue; the autopsy found no evidence to support this. What the investigation did reveal was that he had been taking anti-depressants and sleeping pills prior to his death. The level of Remeron (an anti-depressant) and Lunesta (a sleeping pill) in his system is described as “therapeutic.”

There are clear echoes of Scott's last outer space thriller (1979's Alien) in this big, bold film, but this is something very different. It's certainly not a clear prequel. And even if the plot is full of holes, it's utterly mesmerising.

When archaeologists Shaw and Holloway (Rapace and Marshall-Green) figure out that ancient civilisations share a map to a specific star system, the Weyland CEO (Pearce) funds a two-year mission to get answers about the origin of humanity. Led by Weyland crony Vickers (Theron) and Captain Janek (Elba), Shaw and Holloway are accompanied by a helpful android (Fassbender) and a team of not-so-enthusiastic scientists. But what they find on this distant moon isn't what they expected, and the remnants of this civilisation aren't as dead as they seem.

The story (by cowriter Jeffers) this film is based on was clearly inspired by Jack London's famously bleak short story To Build a Fire, pitting a man against the elements in the harsh, snowy Arctic wilderness. It's a very well-made film, but not very easy to engage with.

Ottway (Neeson) works as a wolf-sniper for a petrol company in the far reaches of Alaska, but is struggling with thoughts of suicide because he misses his wife (Openshaw) so much. Then on a flight to Anchorage, the plane is hit by a severe storm and goes down in the middle of nowhere. There are a handful of survivors, and Ottway soon becomes the leader when they are menaced by howling, growling wolves. Knowing they'd be safer in the treeline, he leads five other men from one peril to another.

In the future, Elizabeth Shaw leads a team of explorers into the furthest reaches of the universe, in order to discover the origins of human life. Things turn disastrous when they end up stranded on a distant planet. What the explorers discover could not only answer the question of how humans came to be but could also bring about our destruction.

Ridley Scott and his usual Oscar-winning crewmates turn the familiar old English legend into a robust, thumping epic. The pacing is a bit uneven, but it keeps us thoroughly engaged.

Robin Longstride (Crowe) fought alongside King Richard (Danny Huston) in the crusades but returned to England under shady circumstances with two of his archer buddies (Grimes and Doyle) and a beefy fighter (Durand). Heading to Nottingham to honour an oath, he meets Sir Walter (von Sydow) and his feisty daughter-in-law Marian (Blanchett), who are being squeezed out of their land by the Sheriff (Macfadyen). But there are bigger problems, as Godfrey (Strong) marauds through the country with an army of French goons, plotting to steal the country from the vain new King John (Isaac).

Thelma & Louise is a landmark film, one that defines the cinematic terrain for female empowerment and one that effortlessly blends powerful ideas about gender with an endlessly engaging story. The film weaves a story about women in distress, who come from depressed backgrounds and seedy locales, which is not entirely different from any prototypical Lifetime Movie of the Week. The genius of Ridley Scott's direction and Callie Khouri's groundbreaking screenplay is that they allow the film to flirt with standard archetypal conventions, all the while upending conventional notions of women -- particularly women in the sort of situation Thelma and Louise find themselves in.

The movie jumps headfirst into the action without any necessary build-up or labored background. We meet Louise, a headstrong waitress, and her younger, flighty friend Thelma (Geena Davis) as they finalize plans for their road trip. Nothing more or less complicated than that. Where they are going is fairly vague; why they are going is more telling: their explicit purpose in taking a trip is to escape from the men in their lives. Jimmy (Michael Madsen), Louise's longtime casual partner, is a gruff mechanic who loves Louise, but doesn't know how to show it. Darryl (Christopher McDonald), Thelma's husband, is a plain loser, a carpet salesman with a cheesy mustache, bouffant-fro, and a lack of respect for his wife.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a dead sucker for big-battle hero pictures, but these days, movies like this are released every month. And coming from Ridley Scott, who is one of the real standard-setters for flicks of this ilk, I'm going into Kingdom of Heaven with high expectations: I want a hero who tugs my heart strings, a love story that moves me to tears, a villain who makes me seethe with hate, and action that gets my pulse racing.

Judging from his body of work, Ridley Scott obviously likes a good hero story, too. But, sadly, this, his latest epic hero film, is without one key ingredient: the hero. And as he's the director and the producer of this disappointing monstrosity, he's got no one to blame but himself.

"It's about the facelessness of war!" exclaimed a colleague. "The compositions are stunning, with action going on in the foreground and background. It's a dynamic and apocalyptic visual experience!" This, to me, is madness. Black Hawk Down has been mistaken, in its bloated self-importance, for being cinematically and politically relevant. Take away its timely guise of patriotism, and it's a real horror show, more about murder than military prowess. Without the morally repellant "kill 'em all" subtext (young white boys mowing down the savages), you're left with something merely incoherent.

Two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters go down in the mazelike streets of Mogadishu during a routine search-and-capture mission, leaving 100 G.I.'s stumbling around enemy territory with limited resources until the rescue Rangers show up. It's been oft-compared to having almost two full hours of Steven Spielberg's masterful 30-minute Omaha Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan, which sounds good on paper only because Ryan suffered by following up its amazing visual prologue with a glut of character-driven monologues to invest personality within each soldier before he get killed. But Spielberg understood the basic precepts of documentary filmmaking: no matter how chaotic things got, we always understood where the soldiers were, and where they were going. Black Hawk Down, by removing exposition and cohesion, couldn't care less.

At more than one point in his career, Paul Newman has been the ultimate con man. The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, and The Color of Money all epitomized this master of smooth talk and wily ways. But the successes of all of his past films and all of their cons have one common denominator: a memorable and talented supporting cast. In The Hustler, Jackie Gleason played Minnesota Fats, who proved to be a worthy nemesis by outsmarting the cocky and more talented Newman. Tom Cruise, in The Color of Money, was like an apprentice learning from the master sorcerer, as Newman molded Cruise into an effigy of his old self. While Newman always emerged the star, he would continually share the spotlight, so that none of those movies became one-dimensional.

Newman's latest film, Where the Money Is, directed by Marek Kanievska (Less Than Zero), unfortunately lacks the supporting cast for Newman to thrive as the luminary "hustler." In the film, Newman plays Henry Manning, a former bank robber who plans to break out of prison by faking a stroke. When he is transferred to a minimum-security nursing home, he thinks he's home free. However, the woman assigned to take care of him, Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino - Men in Black) suspects that he's a fake and attempts to lure him out of his trance so he will help her in a burglary with her and her husband Wayne (Dermot Mulroney - Copycat, My Best Friend's Wedding). She goes to some outrageous lengths to keep him from playing possum, but when she finally awakes the bank robbing legend, she faces a challenge that could change her life.

Kevin Reynolds is one of Hollywood's most unjustly maligned filmmakers. I'm frequently astounded by the fact that his superior craftsmanship is not more widely recognized. Surely his attention to detail and sensual prowess is equal that of championed filmmakers like Ridley and Tony Scott (who both produced this film).

I suspect that most of this disregard is due to the fact that more often than not Reynolds' films are burdened with clunky and sentimental scripts. Films like Rapa Nui and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves were gorgeously shot and produced but weighed down by melodrama and hobbled by sentimentality. And then there was the whole Waterworld debacle from which it seems Reynolds has never really recovered. The Count of Monte Cristo was a start, but this is the film that should bring Reynolds back to the table. (I happen to think Waterworld is fantastically accomplished and enormously entertaining but don't tell anyone I said that.)

Smitten with the original Browning Version, and rightly so, Mike Figgis remade the lovely little film in 1994. It's quite a faithful remake, updating it to the present day but leaving virtually all of the story and much of the dialogue intact. In many ways it's unneccesary as a remake -- the original still stands up well -- though Albert Finney is perfectly cast in the role of a hated prep school teacher on his last day on the job... and how that might change, however slightly, before the day is out. Watch both versions together if you can to catch the little nuances that Figgis tweaks and fiddles with, though for God's sake watch a comedy after the double feature is over.

The opening text of Domino informs the viewer that the film is based on a true story "sort of." It should also inform the viewer that it makes sense, entertains, and maintains focus on its main character "sort of." What it does far more consistently is annoy, disappoint, and remind the viewer of far better films they could be spending their time watching.

The story, very loosely based on the exploits of female bounty hunter Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley), follows our heroine as she grows dissatisfied with her socialite upbringing and embraces the darker side of law enforcement. Her mentor on this journey is legendary bounty hunter Ed Mosbey (Mickey Rourke), assisted by pseudo-comic relief Choco (Edgar Ramirez). That she meets these gentlemen as they try to scam hundreds of dollars off of would-be bounty hunters (including herself) doesn't dissuade her from trusting them with her new life.

Matchstick Men is an uncharacteristic departure for director Ridley Scott. After all, who didn't think the man was utterly without a sense of humor or even a soul of after the hopelessly depressing Gladiator and Black Hawk Down?

But even Scott proves that he can't suppress his frosted side forever, thanks to this spirited and undeniably sweet look at the con game spliced with a family drama -- his best work in years.

"It's about the facelessness of war!" exclaimed a colleague. "The compositions are stunning, with action going on in the foreground and background. It's a dynamic and apocalyptic visual experience!" This, to me, is madness. Black Hawk Down has been mistaken, in its bloated self-importance, for being cinematically and politically relevant. Take away its timely guise of patriotism, and it's a real horror show, more about murder than military prowess. Without the morally repellant "kill 'em all" subtext (young white boys mowing down the savages), you're left with something merely incoherent.

Two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters go down in the mazelike streets of Mogadishu during a routine search-and-capture mission, leaving 100 G.I.'s stumbling around enemy territory with limited resources until the rescue Rangers show up. It's been oft-compared to having almost two full hours of Steven Spielberg's masterful 30-minute Omaha Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan, which sounds good on paper only because Ryan suffered by following up its amazing visual prologue with a glut of character-driven monologues to invest personality within each soldier before he get killed. But Spielberg understood the basic precepts of documentary filmmaking: no matter how chaotic things got, we always understood where the soldiers were, and where they were going. Black Hawk Down, by removing exposition and cohesion, couldn't care less.

At more than one point in his career, Paul Newman has been the ultimate con man. The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, and The Color of Money all epitomized this master of smooth talk and wily ways. But the successes of all of his past films and all of their cons have one common denominator: a memorable and talented supporting cast. In The Hustler, Jackie Gleason played Minnesota Fats, who proved to be a worthy nemesis by outsmarting the cocky and more talented Newman. Tom Cruise, in The Color of Money, was like an apprentice learning from the master sorcerer, as Newman molded Cruise into an effigy of his old self. While Newman always emerged the star, he would continually share the spotlight, so that none of those movies became one-dimensional.

Newman's latest film, Where the Money Is, directed by Marek Kanievska (Less Than Zero), unfortunately lacks the supporting cast for Newman to thrive as the luminary "hustler." In the film, Newman plays Henry Manning, a former bank robber who plans to break out of prison by faking a stroke. When he is transferred to a minimum-security nursing home, he thinks he's home free. However, the woman assigned to take care of him, Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino - Men in Black) suspects that he's a fake and attempts to lure him out of his trance so he will help her in a burglary with her and her husband Wayne (Dermot Mulroney - Copycat, My Best Friend's Wedding). She goes to some outrageous lengths to keep him from playing possum, but when she finally awakes the bank robbing legend, she faces a challenge that could change her life.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a dead sucker for big-battle hero pictures, but these days, movies like this are released every month. And coming from Ridley Scott, who is one of the real standard-setters for flicks of this ilk, I'm going into Kingdom of Heaven with high expectations: I want a hero who tugs my heart strings, a love story that moves me to tears, a villain who makes me seethe with hate, and action that gets my pulse racing.

Judging from his body of work, Ridley Scott obviously likes a good hero story, too. But, sadly, this, his latest epic hero film, is without one key ingredient: the hero. And as he's the director and the producer of this disappointing monstrosity, he's got no one to blame but himself.

Personally, I don't get the shoe thing, and more than likely, I never will. Unless you're a foot fetishist, the foot and the shoe shouldn't hold much importance to anybody but the owner. I never claimed to know what the thing is with women and shoes and I don't have the will power to feign interest, to be honest. But it's apparent that Curtis Hanson has a might big interest in women's shoes and for that matter, women in general. It's the reason that he's followed three male-heavy films with In Her Shoes, a film about women and all their habits.

To say your siblings are terrifying is an understatement; they are either young enough to physically torture you and mentally annoy you with the precision of a mime or they are old enough to make you really worried. Rose Feller (Toni Collette) shares my torture in abundance, if not more so. She has been looking after and taking care of her younger sister, Maggie (Cameron Diaz), since their mother died. We meet Maggie while she is getting nailed in a bathroom stall at a high school reunion. Sparks fly when Rose catches Maggie screwing Jim, the man she is seeing, and throws her out of the apartment they've been sharing. Unable to go anywhere else, Maggie goes to her father's house where she uncovers years of hidden birthday cards from a grandmother she thought was dead. So Maggie packs her bags and heads to Miami to bunk up with grandma Ella (Shirley Maclaine), the grandmother who was cast aside by her father. Meanwhile, Rose starts seeing a fellow lawyer, Simon (Mark Feuerstein), starts a dog-walking business and sets out to reconnect with Maggie.

So it's a blatant, gimmicky ripoff of Top Gun, but G.I. Jane gave Demi Moore a chance to prove that she had more in her than was on display in Striptease. I don't know if they really beat the crap out of her during the production of this film, but it sure looks like they did. And that's worth two hours of my time.

Lester, the uh, MO-lester... a character I'm not likely to ever forget. Vince Vaughn could make a career out of playing psychos and womanizers -- I wouldn't mind. Clay Pigeons is a glorious black comedy that shows off his prodigious wit and borderline insanity, with Phoenix playing the patsy for Vaughn's murders.

While "magic" may be a little strong, The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing is a surprisingly interesting film. If you're a filmmaker or an aspiring critic, it may well be essential viewing.

This documentary is precisely what it's title purports to be, an in-depth and instructive look at movie editing that literally spans 100 years of film history, from The Great Train Robbery to Cold Mountain. Through interviews with a copious number of directors and editors, The Cutting Edge covers everything from basic editing techniques like the matching of cuts to modern editing theory as inspired by MTV and The Matrix. The film goes into extreme detail in parts, like when we get to see James Cameron's trick of removing one frame per second out of Terminator 2 to give it more momentum and realism. It's all a little bit insidery and self-congratulatory, but the movie works far more often than not. Any film buff will find it hard not to like.

After playing the role of a leper king in 'Kingdom of Heaven', Edward Norton has talked about how he wished the role went uncredited to maintain mystery around the character.

'Fight Club' star Edward Norton doesn't think that his role in 'Kingdom of Heaven' should have been credited, in order to add mystery to the character. Norton portrays King Baldwin in the Ridley Scott epic - the masked king of Jerusalem afflicted with leprosy. The 'Best Actor' and 'Best Supporting Actor' nominee believes, however, that if the role had gone uncredited, it would have added to the characterisation of Orlando Bloom's lead role.

Norton explained the reasons behind these thoughts to 'Empire' magazine, saying: "I didn't want to be billed because Orlando Bloom's character keeps hearing about him. There's this anticipation, this big mystery about him. It's the whole point. And it was a free trip to Morocco!"